Boy (13) charged over fatal stabbing of Irish man in London

A 13-year-old boy was still being questioned by the Metropolitan Police in London on Tuesday on suspicion of the murder of a Cobh, Co Cork-born builder, Christopher 'Jack' Barry, who died from a single stab wound on Sunday night.

Mr Barry's identity was formally released by police on Tuesday after family in Ireland were notified. The 53-year-old was attacked as he came back to his apartment building in Edmonton in the north of the city with his partner, Sabrina.

Youths, who had been trying to get into a party in another apartment in the building, gathered outside its entrance when the couple arrived. Words were exchanged and Mr Barry was then stabbed in the back as the couple made their way through the gang.

Three 14-year-olds and one 13-year-old, who were arrested on suspicion of murder, have already been bailed to return to an east London police station on a date in late January, pending further enquiries.

Mr Barry managed to get upstairs to the couple’s flat. His partner Sabrina called police and the ambulance service. However he was pronounced dead at the scene by an ambulance crew 30 minutes later.

“The victim and this group were not known to each other – what started as a minor verbal altercation has escalated into a shocking act of violence,” said the officer leading the investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Neale Baldock.

Mr Barry's uncle, Noel told RTÉ's Sean O'Rourke programme that he had left for England in 1983, but returned to Cobh annually: "He was typically Irish, worked hard and never lost his accent."